Nothing to Fear
by Tallman7
Summary: One-shot that wouldn't leave me alone. Naruto banishment plot with a twist.


Jiraya sighed as he stood before the door to a seedy looking bar in the Land of Rivers. It was days like this that made him feel every one of his 59 years. He took a steadying breath and prepared himself for what would probably be painful and emotionally draining encounter before stepping out of the glare of the midday sun and into the dimly lit pub.

The building was sparsely filled with just over a half dozen cloaked and hooded patrons, something that wasn't uncommon in places like this. This bar had a reputation for being a gathering place for nukenin, who tended to wear disguises and maintain a low profile when in public. Still, based on the chakra he could sense from them, they were mostly chūnin and genin level nin, nothing special really. However, there was one glaring exception.

Seated at a wide table, facing towards the door with his back to a wall was a teenage shinobi with golden blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Like the other patrons, he was cloaked in black, but his hood was down. In his left hand he held a sake saucer, with a mostly full bottle sitting to the side that looked to have been recently opened. Across the table from him were a single chair and an identical sake saucer, set out as if he was expecting company. The moment Jiraya's eyes met his, he waved the white-haired man over to him.

' _Huh. Looks like he was waiting for me.'_

"Good to see you again, brat." said Jiraya as he took a seat and poured himself a drink. "It's been a while. My network had a hell of a time finding you."

"I'm sure they did." muttered the younger man as he took a sip of his sake. "Not hard enough, apparently. So, what brings you to this part of the world, Jiraya? It can't possibly just be to talk. After all, you had a dozen years to do that before I met you for the first time, and you didn't give a fuck then, so I highly doubt you'd give a fuck now."

Jiraya winced slightly. "You know my reasons for that. It was to keep you safe."

"That's not a reason, that's an excuse." countered the blonde with a bit of bite in his tone. "After all, someone who runs one of the world's largest and most extensive spy networks and makes a living off of peeping on women would _have_ to be a master of stealth. You could've snuck in to visit me whenever you wanted, and I doubt anyone but the old man and my ANBU guards would've been any the wiser. You just didn't care."

Jiraya flinched and averted his eyes, but didn't retort. After all, the blonde had a point. "Naruto-"

"Save it, Jiraya." snapped the younger man. "Just say what you came to say and get the fuck out."

Jiraya sighed, but nodded. "Fine. You've been recalled."

Naruto blinked once, and then snorted in derision. "Recalled? In case you've forgotten, I was _banished_. You and Tsunade had unlimited traveling rights, so when we went to get her, she was _recalled_. I, on the other hand, was _thrown away_. Thanks to that decree from the daimyō that the Council managed to get passed, I even had my citizenship in the Land of Fire stripped from me. You _can't_ recall me."

Jiraya flinched, but his face hardened after a moment. "Your banishment's been revoked, and your citizenship restored. You need to come home."

"Konoha is _not_ my home!" snarled the blonde. "In a _home_ , you feel safe and protected. In a _home_ , you have people that care about you. In a _home_ , you aren't discarded like a piece of trash for doing your _fucking job_!"

"You didn't need to kill the Uchiha-"

" _He was defecting to Orochimaru you fucktard_!" yelled Naruto angrily. "Unless Konoha's SOP for dealing with nukenin changed when I wasn't looking, I was _supposed_ to kill him when it became clear I couldn't take him alive without unduly risking my own life, which was right around the time he _rammed a lightning covered hand through my chest!_ "

Again, Jiraya flinched and was left without a response.

"But let's not stop there." continued the blonde derisively. "Let's go a bit further. Konoha is a _military dictatorship_. Tsunade is its _absolute ruler_. The Council has _no power_ that she doesn't _allow_ them to have, and so long as I was shinobi, even the Fire daimyō couldn't exert any authority over me. Ultimately, it was _her_ decision to banish me, and the drunken hag _knew_ that. She was just too _weak_ and _spineless_ to say no to those idiot civilians on the Council when they demanded my banishment."

Jiraya scowled and began leaking killing intent. "Tsunade is your Hokage, and you _will_ show respect for her."

"Tsunade is a washed-up drunk who gave up the right to be _my_ Hokage when she signed the papers throwing me out of the only place I'd ever called home." growled Naruto. "Contrary to whatever delusions you might have, Jiraya, I haven't been sitting on my ass for the past seven years, and I'm strong enough now that you can't treat me like a wayward toddler. I will _never_ willingly return to that hellhole you call a village, and if you try to force me, one of us is retuning in a body bag."

"Damnit Naruto, we're trying to protect you!" snapped Jiraya, slamming his fist on the table, which creaked ominously. "We've confirmed that Akatsuki has captured five of the bijū, and they're after the two, seven, and eight tails even now! We need to keep you from falling into their hands!"

Naruto sneered. "And now we come to the heart of the matter. You don't actually give a fuck about _me_ , all you care about is the _Kyūbi_. To you, I'm just the _demon_ , Konoha's _weapon_ , not Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto."

Jiraya's eyes widened comically, and Naruto barked in laughter. "Surprised I know? Trust me Jiraya, I know a _lot_ more than you can imagine. Hell, considering how ignorant you've proven yourself to be, I bet I know more about _Akatsuki_ than you do as well. And believe me when I say: I have nothing to fear from Akatsuki."

Overcoming his shock, Jiraya slammed his hand against the table hard enough to break it in two, which caused Naruto and all of the other patrons in the bar to snap to their feet. " _Damnit Naruto, if Akatsuki captures you they'll rip the Kyūbi out of you_!" bellowed the Toad Sage.

"I know." replied the younger blonde immediately, once again shocking Jiraya to silence. "I'm fully aware of what Akatsuki does to the jinchūriki that they capture." He glanced over Jiraya's shoulder and smirked vindictively. "Aren't I, Itachi?"

Jiraya felt his blood turn to ice as the chakra signatures he'd felt earlier encircled him. Before, they were those of low level nin, but now he was surrounded by seven monstrous signatures, every one of them capable of giving him pause. He whirled in place to find himself facing the doom of the Uchiha clan, cloaked in black with red clouds, his pinwheel eyes spinning slowly.

"Indeed you are, Naruto-kun." replied Itachi monotonously. Around his feet lay a plain black cloak, the inside coated liberally with chakra suppression seals. Identical cloaks lay at the feet of Hidan of Hot Water, Kakuzu the Mercenary, Deidara the Mad Bomber, Akatsuna no Sasori, and Hoshigaki Kisame. "And while I will admit to being… _perturbed_ when I learned you'd killed my brother, I would rather you have killed him than allowed him to sell himself to Orochimaru."

"See?" said Naruto mockingly from behind him. "It's like I told you Jiraya."

Once again, Jiraya whirled in place, and what he saw made his heart skip a beat, then a second. Naruto, like the others in the bar, had removed his cloak and let it fall to the floor at his feet, though his lacked the chakra suppression seals of the others. Even so, he too was wearing a second cloak under the first, this one also black.

Black, with red clouds.

Naruto's smile showed far too many teeth, and a large glowing ball of chakra swirled in his hand.

"I have nothing to fear from Akatsuki."


End file.
